


In a world such as this...

by TakaSeokk



Series: Original Work [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Post-Apocalypse, Survival
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-07-29 09:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7678942
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TakaSeokk/pseuds/TakaSeokk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Des, a teenage boy who has lived in safety from the apocalyptic world beyond in a settlement called Legacy 6,  is being cast into the wild after committing treason.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Des

The chain link gate in front of me opened with a cringe-worthy grind and I anxiously cracked my fingers in anticipation. Right before my very eyes, the gate that was rarely ever touched was being pried open. It was the single gate of the fence that surrounded the small, city-like camp of Legacy 6 behind me; the gate that provided us protection against all sorts of terrible things lurking outside; the gate that was watched night and day to make sure nothing came or went.

The gate that would finally send me on my way.

I’ll admit, I was scared to leave the safety of the camp behind me and slide headfirst into the wilderness beyond, but I didn’t exactly have much choice in the matter. I mean…I’d kind of had it coming, I suppose. I closed my eyes with a deep sigh and thought back to yesterday. I remembered the mixed anger and betrayal that flashed within every pair of eyes as they gazed upon me and decided upon my fate.

 _So this is what happens when you challenge the ones in power, huh?_ I thought. _You get kicked out of their ring of safety. I knew the rules…and yet_ had _to go and break them. Damn idiot…_

I opened my eyes at the stop of the gate’s painful grating and looked over at the guard leaning up against the fence, who was giving me a bored expression and lazily chewing on a toothpick. She cast a dubious glance up and down my figure, twiddled the toothpick in between her front teeth, and then laughed a little to herself.

“Alright,” she drawled and pushed away from the fence, reaching down to pick up a crude, wooden bow and a quiver with a few arrows. “Take these,” she shoved the objects into my hands.

“Ahh!” I exclaimed, fumbling clumsily as some of the arrows clattered out of my grasp and to the weed-ridden asphalt beneath me. I saw the guard roll her eyes at me as I bent down to pick them up and I willed my face not to flush with color. “What do you expect me to do with these?” I asked as I stood back up, the realization that this would be the one and only thing I’d receive suddenly hitting me like a sack of lead.

She gave me a look that said _are you really that stupid or am I just going crazy_ and let out an exasperated breath. “They’re for food, obviously.”

I blinked and looked down at the things now within my arms. “Oh…”

“You know…hunting?”

I set my face into a pout and slung the quiver over my shoulder, “I knew what you meant,” I muttered angrily under my breath. 

Another sigh. “Whatever.” A pause as she twiddled with her toothpick again. “You know the terms, right?”

“Yeah, I know ‘em…” I averted my gaze down and away from her. _Just let me go already, for fuck’s sake._

“Let’s hear it then, boy.”

I resisted the sudden urge to roll my eyes and instead decided to run my fingers through my unruly, white hair as I sighed and then quoted, “‘It has been decided that in accordance with the rules of Legacy 6, stronghold of humanity and protector of survivors of the Decimation, that the young man by the name of Des has been found guilty of treasonous crimes and will henceforth be subjected to exile from Legacy 6. He will be given exactly one tool for the purpose of basic survival, but will otherwise be exempt from further aid from Legacy 6. He will have exactly 24 hours from the time of his exit through the gate to leave the territory, but after the passing of said time, he is to be killed immediately on sight if found in or near the premises. If anyone is found to have helped him’ blah blah blah that’s around where I stopped listening.”

The woman quirked her eyebrows in a slightly impressed expression.

I shrugged.

“You actually memorized all that? You’re not quite as dumb as you seem, Mr. Clumsy-Hands,” she said, referring back to my fumble with the arrows.

“I’m smart with my mind, not my body,” I informed her and flashed a sarcastic smile.

She grinned lazily, the toothpick jutting up and to the side. “Which is exactly why this exile is so interesting to me.”

_You don’t seem that interested at all…_

“Now get out,” she ordered with a jerk of her head. “Get gone.”

I took one last look behind me at the sprawling field that spanned the area between the buildings of Legacy 6 and the chain link fence where I currently stood. Even though the place was basically a dump and the dysfunctional “government” they had was corrupt and riddled with cheats at best, it still had to be better than the world outside, right? We’d all heard the stories, seen the people that came back from a venture outside…well the lucky ones, that is. Was what I’d done really worth it? Or was it going to be the decision that walked me straight to my demise?

“Oy. Skedaddle. Sayonara,” the guard droned in a monotonous voice. “What part of _leave_ don’t you understand?”

I peeled my eyes away from the dilapidated rooftops of my home and turned so that I was directly facing the opened gate with heart pounding wildly in my ribs.

_This is it. This is how I finally get to leave this place. I was hoping for it to be a little different but…well we don’t always get what we want, right?_

 “I understand what it means,” I sighed and gripped my fist tightly around the bow. Then without ever taking another glance back or even waiting for a response, I walked past the guard, through the gate, and out into the world beyond.


	2. Des

At first, I didn’t really think there was all that much to worry about outside the protected space Legacy 6 provided. The only signs of life I ever really saw were birds, deer, and various other wildlife, but we never really bothered each other so it was all fine. I wasn’t really all that adept with the bow the guard had given me—to be honest, I sucked at it—but through countless errors, frustration, and utter desperation, I was finally able to get the gist of it…kind of…

But like I said, it was only at first that I believed there was nothing to worry about. You see, I quickly began to notice that as I moved further and further away from Legacy 6, the more everything seemed to become desolate and…and…eerie is the word I’m looking for, I guess. I couldn’t even try to describe it if I could, so the only thing I could really say is that everything just felt _off_.

I’d heard stories of what the Decimation had been like when it had happened and I couldn’t help but get the same feeling in that wilderness that I’d gotten when I’d heard those tales. It was a strange and foreign mixture of sensations such as: a pounding heart, a cold yet sweaty neck, a dried mouth and throat, and the terror of being horribly and utterly paralyzed all mushed together into something altogether unpleasant.

To others, it was strange how the idea of the Decimation itself, as opposed to its aftereffects, was what truly freaked me out. Even tales of what life was like _before_ freaked me out, to be honest. For most, it was the fact that things would never go back to the way it used to be. The fact that this was reality and that everything before was nothing more than memory…it really unsettled people. But for me, it made sense why I was this way.

You see, even though the Decimation only happened a little over a year ago, I couldn’t even recall the tiniest thing about anything during the Decimation or before. I wasn’t really sure why I was this way but all I had was the fuzzy touch of a past life that used to be mine. Sure, it was kind of tragic when you thought about it, but I couldn’t really say I minded it. I mean, how could I say I missed something…when I had no clear recollection of it? Fretting over the memories of everything before that time—basically everything before I was seventeen, so about sixteen years’ worth of content here—just didn’t seem like something worthwhile to me.

These days, everyone had more important things to worry about than sixteen years of discarded life and memories. These days, survival was the only thing that really counted…no matter what it ended up costing you.


	3. Des

I rushed and stumbled through the dark, branches and various other objects smacking into my body and face. My heart pounded crazy and hard within my ribcage and my lungs felt like they were freezing yet burning with fire all at once. I could hear the crashing of trees and underbrush behind me growing closer and I spurred my aching legs into moving faster.

_My bow! Where’s my bow?!_

I frantically reached a hand behind me to touch my shoulders and felt…my heart dropped down through my stomach and to my feet.

 _Not good not good not good! Shit, this is_ so _not good!_

There was barely enough moonlight filtering in through the treetops for me to see the tangled and twisted forest that I dashed through and I couldn’t help but feel the frantic rush of panic take over my body.

_I’m done for. This is it…_

_No! Get ahold of yourself! Come on, Des, think! You’re smart with your mind, not your body, right? So use that head of yours and think!_

_Okay…okay._ I jumped over a fallen log and continued to run even though I stumbled and nearly fell down. _What’s the first thing I need to do?_

 _Get out of the forest. Get out of the forest and into an open area. A field, a parking lot, a road…literally_ anything _is better than this._

_That’s right. I need a place that isn’t dark and filled with shadow. Hopefully no clouds are covering the moon tonight but…_

_But right now it’s my best chance._

_Right…let’s start off by changing course a little bit, shall we?_

I suddenly grabbed onto the trunk of a small sapling to my right and used it to swing myself around and in that direction. I heard a whoosh behind me as the beast chasing me rushed past my turning point, continued forward, and then emitted a loud, wind-like roar before pursuing me once again. But that small amount of leeway was all I needed and before I knew it I could see an opening in the dark trunks ahead. With everything I had left in me, I bounded through the last leg of the underbrush and burst out onto a wide road riddled with weeds and debris. I ran a couple more yards before I realized that I could no longer hear the strange thing behind me.

Wheezing for breath and with quaking legs, I slowed to a stop and rested my hands on my knees as I hunched over and tried to regain my breath. After a couple moments, I looked back at the forest I’d emerged from and smiled in triumph. I felt like laughing and beating my fists into the air, shouting to the moon and letting the whole world know that I had done it. That _I_ , Des the exile, had managed to survive an encounter with one of the biggest dangers of the earth’s Decimation. Not one of those guards patrolling the fence, not a council member of Legacy 6, but _me_.

“Not bad for a traitor, huh?” I mused aloud, standing up and brushing my hands off on my chest. I turned away from the dark trees and faced down the road, immediately blinking and furrowing my brows at the sight that awaited me there. “Wait a minute…” I squinted my eyes and took a step forward. “Is that…?” I gave a little shake of my head to make sure a branch didn’t hit me harder than I thought. No, it was still there: a campfire. And not only that, but it almost looked like there was a couple of figures gathered around it of all things. “ _People_ ,” I breathed the word like it was the most sacred thing I’d ever uttered.

Before I knew it, my feet began to move. At first it was nothing more than a bewildered shuffle but then I was breaking out into a sprint once again, my heart swelling with happiness at finally finding someone after all those long, lonely days. How many had it been now? I didn’t remember. Damn, this was just too good to be true!

“Hey!” I called out, waving my arms at the figures seated at the fire. “Hey!”

Both of the figures were already looking in my direction but when I got closer, they both stood abruptly and tensed, one of them grabbing a pole from the ground next to them and sticking it into the fire to light while the other stood in rigid awareness.

“Wha…” I slowed to a standing position, confused by their sudden hostility. I was merely fifty or so feet away and I could now make out their faces: a boy about my age and a girl probably in her twenties, both of whom had long, ebony hair and very fierce expressions on their faces.

“What are you doing, you idiot?!” the boy shouted, his voice loud, authoritative, and with an edge of disbelief to it.

The older girl took a step forward and waved her flaming pole, “ _Hurry!_ ”

“Hurry?” I wondered, now even more confused that I was before. “Why on earth are you telling me to—” I stopped midsentence as a cold feeling washed over me and a shiver ran up my spine. “Ah…” I turned and saw the formless dark in front of me. I swallowed dryly. “I see…”


	4. Viz

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter changes to another character's POV

“Viz.” The sound of my name broke through my thoughts and I glanced up from the twig I was using to clean underneath my fingernails.

“What?” I looked across the campfire at my friend, Torr, who was staring intently out at the darkness of the road we were sitting on. “Did you hear something?” I snapped the twig in half and tossed it aside, using my right hand to brush my long, black bangs out of my eyes.

“No, it’s not that. I think…” Torr squinted, “there’s someone out there.” She pointed and I followed her finger to a hunched figure down the road.

“It would seem so,” I observed, the two of us watching as the figure straightened up and swiped their hands down their front.

“From what I saw,” Torr told me, “it looked like they ran out of the forest and into the road out there. They seemed to be in a rush.”

“Do you think…?” I glanced at the fire.

“Yeah. Let’s wait and see what happens, but we might have to ward it off.”

“Alright.” I ran a hand through my shoulder-length hair and exhaled.

 The figure turned away from the forest and in our direction. They seemed to hover for a moment in disbelief before they began to walk and then run their way towards us. As the person drew closer, I could see that it was a boy around my age and with the whitest hair I’d ever seen. He was waving his arms at us and his face held an excited and relieved expression. “Hey!” he shouted. “Hey!”

I squinted and looked all around him, tensing when I saw the tell-tale, formless, and smoky shape of the beast behind him. “See that?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Torr responded and both of us quickly stood in preparation. She grabbed a pole with cloth-wrapped ends and stuck them into the fire, the boy with white hair slowing to a hesitant stop and raising his arms slightly in front of him. It was almost like…he was afraid of us?

“What are you doing, you idiot?!” I shouted at him, mentally willing him to continue running towards us, towards safety. _He doesn’t even realize it’s behind him!_ I cast a worried glance at Torr.

“ _Hurry!_ ” Torr shouted, waving the pole to emphasize the urgency.

The white-haired boy stood there for a moment in blind confusion, oblivious to the danger that he was in. But then something seemed to come over him and he slowly turned and stared straight into the depths of the darkness.

“ _Fuck._ ” Torr tsked and spurred into action. “Viz!”

I turned to her and our dark eyes locked.

“Take care of that idiot!” she ordered, looking away from me and down the road to where the boy and the beast were. A wicked grin spread across her lips and she twirled the flaming pole around in her hand, “Leave ol’ beastie to me…”

We spurred forward as one force, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. Torr slowed for a second and I dove in, grabbing the boy around his torso and yanking him away as Torr leapt for the darkness with fire in hand. I pulled the boy in the direction of our camp by the hand, his fingers closing tightly around mine as we ran. Once we were back in the safety of the firelight, we stopped and watched as Torr gleefully fought against the dark beast. Sparks whizzed as they spun and danced in battle and I could tell even from this distance that she was having the time of her life.

_It’s nice to see that she’s having fun…_

Torr’s long, midnight hair was like a dark halo around her as she flitted round and round the beast, its form never daring to get too close to the terrible light she wielded in her hands. It was fairly common knowledge that these strange, shadow-like beasts loathed light of any kind, but it had only been on a night several months ago that the two of us discovered the secret to getting rid of one. Purely by accident, we found that if one penetrated the beast with a source of light…

With lightning speed, Torr ducked a blow from the beast and stabbed forward, one of the pole’s ends swallowed by darkness. Everything was quiet for a couple heartbeats before there was an explosion of cold air and shadow. My vision briefly went blank and I had to blink a few times before everything swam back into focus.

I looked over at the white-haired boy standing next to me, his mouth hanging open in awe at what he’d just witnessed. I blinked in surprise, for the first time getting a good look at him. _Wow…he’s really pretty._ I cleared my throat, and the boy turned to look at me, “You know…” I smirked and lifted up my hand, which he was still holding fiercely in his grip, “I’ll lose all blood flow to my fingers if you continue to squeeze me like this.”

“Wha—” the boy’s eyes suddenly went wide and he released me like I was on fire, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment as he took a step away from me. “S-Sorry…”

I shook my head at him and chuckled, “Chill, I’m just messing with you.” I gave the boy a sideways smile and held out my hand, “The name’s Viz. The psycho over there’s Torr.” I jerked my head in her direction, where she was laughing and cheering manically in triumph in the center of the road.

The boy hesitantly reached out and took my hand, “I’m Des. Thanks for saving me…” Des flushed again and shoved his hands into his pockets, casting his eyes down to his dirty shoes.

I shrugged, “No problem. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time.” I peered at him through my bangs, grateful for the curtain of hair to hide just how much I found myself staring at him. “What’s someone like you doing all by yourself out here? Did you get lost from your group or something?”

“Uh…” Des scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward smile down at the ground. “Not exactly. It…it’s kind of complicated…”

I tipped my head back and forth in a weighing motion. “Fair enough.” I looked up at the moon. “But you are alone, aren’t you?”

A pause. Then, Des gave a weary sigh, “Yeah…”

I stared intently at the silver moon, its shimmering glow reminding me of the beautiful, pale figure beside me. An idea was beginning to take form inside my mind and I felt like laughing at myself for it. _Torr will never let me hear the end of it…_

“Hey, Des…” I liked the way his name felt coming off my tongue.

“Huh?” he sounded startled at my direct address.

“Why…why don’t you stay with us?” I tore my eyes away from the moon and looked at him, still looking down, and allowed myself to run with this choice I’d made.

“W-What?!” Des’s gaze whipped up from the ground and to my face. “I mean…are you sure? You guys just went out of your way to save me from that thing and now…I don’t want to intrude or anything like that…I’ve already taken too much of your kindness…so…”

I waved a hand, “It’s no trouble at all, really.”

“But I’ll just end up holding you guys back. Trust me, you don’t want—”

“Oh just shut up and accept already, will ya?”

Des blinked and looked out to the road. I could practically see the cogs turning inside his head. “But…why?”

“Why?” I scratched the back of my head, running my eyes up and down his frame before turning towards the road as well. “Because…” I bit my lower lip as I tried to put my thoughts into the right words. “Because…in a world such as this…everyone’s so… _concerned_ about themselves…living day-to-day and never stopping to think about how others are affected. But if we only do that…are we really living, or just surviving? Existing? That kind of ‘living’ sickens me. In a world such as this…” I made a grand gesture, “I think it’s important to find some kind of meaning in life. And honestly, I don’t find any meaning in turning you away.”  We looked at each other and I rubbed the back of my neck, hoping he understood. “Does that answer your question?”

Des looked up at the moon, staring for a moment before a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah…I think it does…”

I gave him another sideways smile and then watched the moon with him in satisfaction, “I’m glad.”


End file.
